I should not complain. There is enough to do. Bougth some k2233 yesterday and got most of the helix problems repaired. Wanted to complete it today, but unfortunately I hurt my back when i tumbled over some roots of a tree yesterday, when running in the forrest. I'll have to wait until I can move again. In order to get in the helix you need to be very flexible .

Joined: 22/01/2009(UTC)Posts: 10,881Location: On 1965 Märklin Boulevard just around from Roco Square

Rinus,

It looks very much a professional job to me, everything is in line, nice curves, excellent choice of signals, the track plan is enormous and should give you enough room to show off your Austrian loco's.

To be quite honest I can't wait, to see a double 1020 going past or your 1016'sthere is one guy on another forum and he has created a Breenerbahn aswell and it looks fantastic, especially the scenery.

It looks very much a professional job to me, everything is in line, nice curves, excellent choice of signals, the track plan is enormous and should give you enough room to show off your Austrian loco's.

To be quite honest I can't wait, to see a double 1020 going past or your 1016'sthere is one guy on another forum and he has created a Breenerbahn aswell and it looks fantastic, especially the scenery.

regards.,

John

Thanks John! It al seems to fit in nicely.

More than enough room. I can house 22 3,5 meter combinations in the hidden yard. At present I've got only 14 , so there is some room for investments

I'm now testing with a double Rh 1012 and the ACME EC89 set. Looks awesome. Only the Rh 1670 is having trouble negotiating the 3,5% climbs when I attach more than one coach. I hope some new tires will do, otherwise its quite useless.

Also some of my sound loco's with ESU decoder drive suberb with sound off, but restart every few meters when sound is switched on. Must be some CV value

Do you have a link of this other guys lay-out? Need some inspiration on the scenery.

Joined: 22/01/2009(UTC)Posts: 10,881Location: On 1965 Märklin Boulevard just around from Roco Square

Originally Posted by: Rinus

Originally Posted by: river6109

Rinus,

It looks very much a professional job to me, everything is in line, nice curves, excellent choice of signals, the track plan is enormous and should give you enough room to show off your Austrian loco's.

To be quite honest I can't wait, to see a double 1020 going past or your 1016'sthere is one guy on another forum and he has created a Breenerbahn aswell and it looks fantastic, especially the scenery.

regards.,

John

Thanks John! It al seems to fit in nicely.

More than enough room. I can house 22 3,5 meter combinations in the hidden yard. At present I've got only 14 , so there is some room for investments

I'm now testing with a double Rh 1012 and the ACME EC89 set. Looks awesome. Only the Rh 1670 is having trouble negotiating the 3,5% climbs when I attach more than one coach. I hope some new tires will do, otherwise its quite useless.

Also some of my sound loco's with ESU decoder drive suberb with sound off, but restart every few meters when sound is switched on. Must be some CV value

Do you have a link of this other guys lay-out? Need some inspiration on the scenery.

The interruption power is more noticable with sound decoders, just go over the middle studs once and maybe the track itself (very unlikely) and you should see some instant improvements.

Another problem I've found with Roco locos is their pickup contact from the wheels sometimes they are either not resting against the wheel or they have gathered dust & dirt and this is preventing the locos to get proper contact at all times.

Sorry for the delay guys. I had to deal with some massive problems with my house. Huge short-cut in our electricity caused a lot of problems.

Nevertheless, I've done some work on the lay-out:I connected the signals. This was a bit challanging since Krois had not provided me with a manual . With the help of an email and some trail and error I got them working! They are looking very good. I'll definatelly order some more.

The ones I have now have several functions: stop, slow with 60 km/h, safe, shunting.

Furthermore, I set my sights on forming the landscape on both the helix 1 and 2. I've built a wooden frame and added metal meshwhire on top of it. I'll complete it with plaster cloth this week.

I also prepared a bucket of paper-mache, paper pieces or pulp bound with glue, to give the surface more strengh. I'll paste that on top of the platser cloth tomorrow, since the paper-mache needs some time to get ready. I choose paper-mache instead of plaster due to its weight. Its also more flexible, which is very helpfull for my lay-out consists out fo modules. Plaster would be damaged to easily I think.

Great looking layout and I love the pictures. What are your plans for the scenery over the helix? With my layout I ended up using plaster of paris over the plaster cloth and I have been happy with it. I would be interested to hear how things are going with your paper mache, are you happy with its qualities and how does it take paint?

Thank you all for the encouragements. Did some more work testerday and this morning.

It took some time to get the right mix for the paper mache sorted out, but I think I've got it now. In the last batch I used 3 packages of wallparer glue and some hands of cement to be mixed with 1 bucket of paper/water. It looks very tasty again! Like oatmeal. I might add a second layer to the first batch, as this was mixed in a proportion of 1 pakage of glue to 1 bucket of paper/water. This took more time to dry and also resulted in a much thiner substance.

Its also to be recomended not to aply the paper mache directly on mesh wire. I prefer to lay down a layer of plaster cloth first.

I've no experience how it will react to paint. However being paper based, I presume it will do fine.

3rd batch

2nd batch

1st batch

For the scenery part I had this in mind. I want to imitate the St Jodok curve, which is a famous spot on the Brenner line.

I also ballasted a part which will be later transformed into a tunnel exit. Allthough I did some prackicing first, I'm not very experienced in this yet, and i found it very nerve racking!

Haha! Spot on Ian/John! To be honnest there is some sweat on my forehead when ballasting. Its very very difficult for me to do this detailed work. Especially when looking at the great work others have done in this area.

I've got only about 24 meters of ballasting ahead, so I reckon I'll be more experienced in this area at the end than I am now I'll skip the switches for the time being. I'll do them later on, when I've got more confidence.

Nevertheless, I'm pleased with the results sofar. I had expected worse.

Planning to buy a airbrush pistol this weekend. Need to weather the rail and cable channels before I can proceed.

So I might as well post a detailed step by step!

The tools!

After spreading out the ballast with the brushes, take some time to get the sleepers and inner rail free of ballast.

Apply the wetting agent it with alcohol and a drop of soap. It's got to get very wet.

After using the wetting agent, the color gets a lot darker . There for set a marker to mark the line between the section which is dry and the section which is in process. Its hard to see the difference otherwise.

Glue! Mix it with alcohol and aply in smal drops. First the inner rail and then the outer sections.

Nice job on the ballasting. By experience I know it takes a pretty long time to finish this task, but you will be rewarded by how fine your tracks will look at the end of this process.

I am just curious: do you have any problem with the studs of the third rail? When applying the glue, ( I personally use an eye dropper), there is always a small layer of glue that drys on top of the studs, despite all the precautions I can take. This thin film doesn't allow a perfect contact for the loco slider, and I have to clean the studs with alcohol or I use an hobby knife and scratch gently each stud. What is your experience with the studs and the ballasting process?

Joined: 22/01/2009(UTC)Posts: 10,881Location: On 1965 Märklin Boulevard just around from Roco Square

Rinus,

excellent job,

a hint or two: for faster results.

I use a toothbrush to get rid of exess ballasting and use purely a spraygun to do the ballasting, 50% woodglue, 50% water, 2 or 3 drops of detergent (per liter).the end results are without cork underlay: the track after many years gets a bit rusty and the middle contact tongues are slightly oxidiced (shouldn't happen with the stainless steel connectors). with cork underlay: the excess glue is absorbed by the cork and the track connecter, tongues are as new.

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